Browns: 49ers backup QB Alex Smith raves about Norv Turner

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith talks with reporters during a news conference on Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, in New Orleans. The 49ers are scheduled to play the Baltimore Ravens in the NFL Super Bowl XLVII football game on Feb. 3. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Alex Smith is sounding very much like a deposed quarterback who would love to restart his career in Cleveland under the guidance of new Browns offensive coordinator Norv Turner.

Smith, reduced to a backup as the 49ers prepare to meet the Baltimore Ravens in the Super Bowl on Sunday, began 2012 as the undisputed starter in San Francisco after guiding the 49ers to a 13-3 record last season.

Midway through this past season, Smith suffered a concussion and lost his job to Colin Kaepernick, who started the last seven regular season games and both playoff games to get his team to the Super Bowl.

Speculation the 49ers want to trade Smith once the new league year begins March 12 is strong. Because neither Turner nor head coach Rob Chudzinski have expressed any support for current Browns starter Brandon Weeden, Cleveland is deemed a logical landing spot for Smith, the first overall pick of the 2005 draft.

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Smith, by the way, is younger than Weeden. The eight-year veteran turns 29 on May 7. Weeden, entering his second year, will be 30 in October. Smith is under contract for $7.5 million for 2013 and 2014. The Browns are $48.9 million under the cap and can absorb Smith's salary.

Turner and Smith were together only one season in San Francisco, but it was a successful one for Smith. Turner was the 49ers offensive coordinator in 2006 one year after being fired as Raiders head coach and one year before being hired as the Chargers head coach.

"Loved my time with Norv," Smith told reporters in New Orleans on Wednesday. "A very, very friendly quarterback system. For them there (the Browns), it's going to be a terminology change going from a West Coast system to the digits (three-digit play-calling system), but very, very quarterback-friendly -- big-play potential for the offense with a lot of chunk plays.

"He's a great play-caller. I just remember he had a great feel for the game on game day and a great feel for what the defense was doing."

The 49ers took Smith with the first pick the same year the Packers took Aaron Rogers 24th overall. Smith never won more than five games as a starter until the 49ers hired Jim Harbaugh in 2011 except for that one season in 2006 when he was 7-9. He posted amazing numbers this season before the concussion and losing his job to Kaepernick: a 6-2-1 record, 70.2 completion percentage (153 of 218 for 1,737 yards) with 13 touchdown passes and only five interceptions.

The question is, can Turner salvage Weeden the same way he saved Smith, or should the Browns go hot and heavy for Smith? The Browns can't comment on Smith or any player from another team under contract, which means even when the new league year begins in six weeks they can't comment on Smith unless the 49ers release him or trade him to Cleveland.

"Obviously, I'd gotten a whole year of football under my belt," Smith said, referring to 2006. "I got back to playing football. It was structured but it wasn't. (Turner) gave you freedom as a quarterback to go out there and if you saw something to take risks, take shots and things like that. He wasn't necessarily so rigid that you couldn't do that, but it was fun. It was fun to play in that system because if the system worked for you, you felt like there were plays out there. I loved it."

The Browns aren't the only team shopping for a quarterback. The Chiefs need one. They have the first pick in the draft this year, but no one believes Geno Smith of West Virginia or Matt Barkley of USC is worthy of the first pick.

The Eagles are also in the market for a quarterback as well as the Jaguars and possibly the Jets.